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Traffic: Traffic

Traffic: Traffic

Album #62 - November 1968

Episode date -
August 2, 2017

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“Traffic” was the band’s second album and it shared a common feel with their debut. It also represents the band’s last album with their initial lineup, released after their initial breakup, subsequent reformation and breakup, and another reformation (and breakup).

The band’s history is complicated and is best understood in stages, and this could be considered the end of ‘Stage One’, when Dave Mason was still an active member. Actually, that is an overstatement. Mason left the band before this album was recorded, but rejoined to aid in its completion. However, the album shows distinct signs of the separation. Mason’s songs are stylistically apart from everyone else’s, and he hardly makes any contribution to the songs that aren’t his.

So in a sense, “Traffic” is an album of two halves rather than a cohesive whole. For the most part, Mason wrote pop songs, while the rest of the band indulged in their jazz tendencies. Half of the fun in listening is deciding which camp you find yourself in.